Umstead 100 miler bound: March 2010

I marked my calendar many months ago for an appointment at 12 noon. This is in the top 3 events of the year and I was mentally and physically prepared.

And at noon, with my husband on speaker phone talking me through it, I was able to successfully register for the Umstead 100 mile endurance race within the 4-6 minutes it was open online. There were nearly a few mis-steps in this process but luckily I remembered my initials (TJM), my zipcode and who I needed to have as an emergency contact (who knew how much stuff I would have to type in??) But alas with no cramps and no major errors by 12:04 p.m. I had my entry to the 2010 Umstead 100 mile Endurance Run confirmed.

Now I just need to train up for this. I have no idea how I am going to do this when it seems my calendar is solidly booked until Umstead. I have my favorite local race George Washington Birthday in Feb. My favorite race in which the trees go wild: Mardi Gras Marathon. My favorite race where they remember your name, the lower Potomac Marathon. My favorite 50 miler where I saw & interacted with my mom last: Rocky Raccoon. My favorite race run along an old rails to trails, B&A trail marathon and of course my favorite marathon to run into lots of characters: Disney Marathon. And this list excludes my upcoming races in 2009. But I know I can dig deep and perservere!

For those of you who made it into Umstead, congratulations and I look forward to seeing you in March (and I sure am hoping for good weather).

For those of you who did not make it in but do want to run a 100 miler in the winter/spring, I definitely recommend Rocky Raccoon. I will be there volunteering overnight and with the other amazing volunteers will take really good care of you! And Rocky (like Umstead) is an exceptionally well organized and run race! And overall the course while a bit more challenging then Umstead is still manageable.

Finally, since I did switch to the "dark side" of facebook, I have over 180+ pictures from the 2009 just drop me a "friend" evite. Alternatively, if anyone knows how to share this album with non-facebookers feel free to send me instructions...